Are you a college or grad student looking for an amazing summer internship? We’re currently looking for talented, curious, motivated students who want to spend this summer at The Fool! This is an 8-week paid internship where you’ll get to work on great projects with great people…and you’ll never have to wear a tie (unless you lose a bet or something). You’ll work in our Alexandria, VA, office, located just outside of Washington, DC.

Still looking for a great place to work this summer? The Fool is looking for a Retention Marketing Intern to work for 8 weeks at our Alexandria, VA, office. It’s full-time (40 hours per week) and PAID!

In this internship, you’ll spend your time writing marketing emails and working on marketing campaigns. You’ll learn how to create email marketing programs, design A/B tests, and communicate according to our company’s Foolish style.

Do you have strong persuasive writing skills, a basic understanding of HTML, and the ability to be in the Washington, DC metro area this summer? Apply today!

I recently interviewed a prospective Fool and, as expected, we dug into his past experiences. Like a lot of young, successful people, he had completed several internships. One in particular jumped out to me. The candidate had a passion for sports and had interned with a Major League Baseball team. The internship was unpaid, so the candidate held a second job as a coconut milk sample provider at Whole Foods. This role required my candidate to stand behind a table and hand out free milk. In exchange for this task he received a nice salary that enabled him to support himself while working for the baseball team. The unpaid internship was closely tied to his passions of marketing and sports, while the milk salesman job was far from his passion, but paid well. Ultimately he was able to balance the two jobs but he was left with little time for anything else.

The attitude of the baseball team was the same as a lot of big brands like major newspapers, television stations, or movie producers – you are so lucky to work with such a cool company, that is pay in and of itself Essentially they are letting you use their brand on your resume while taking advantage of you.

Don’t get me wrong, there is value there for the intern. But I don’t believe asking a young person to work for free, potentially increasing debt or sacrificing free time for a second job, is good, spiritual business. Why not double down with a great experience, a great brand, and fair pay for fair work? At The Fool, we pay all of our interns. We believe that is simply the right thing to do. We have plenty of students who would work here for free because, let’s face it, we are pretty cool nerds. But we want them to have a life outside of our office as well, and to end the summer with some savings.

The school year just started, but if you’re in college, you know the rush to find a summer internship has already begun. And The Fool has already begun looking for YOU – bright, motivated students, in college or grad school, who want to spend two months working for an awesome company.

We’ve got openings for interns who are interested in investing, writing, editing, and software development. Why spend your summer with us? For one thing, we’ll pay you! You’ll also get to learn from some amazing Fools, work on great projects, and take intern-specific classes in a number of topics (like personal finance, investing, crafting your resume, and more!). You’re eligible to enjoy some of our sweet benefits, like free fitness classes and, because you earned it with all the fitness classes, free cake once a month. Our metro-accessible office is located right outside of Washington, DC, arguably one of the most fun cities to live in as an intern. Did I mention that we’ll pay you?

Don’t take my word for it – some of our 2012 interns wanted to share their experience:

“I couldn’t have asked for a better summer internship than working at The Motley Fool. Beyond the amazing work environment, The Fool made sure to involve interns in important work, to the point where I felt crucial to the business by the end of the summer. You will meet fantastic people, learn about the world of finance from a Foolish perspective, and never want your summer to end.”
– Charlie, Fool.com intern

“The Motley Fool maintains a unique balance between a fun, happy work environment and extremely high performance. Not only did I have a great time last summer interning with TMF, but I learned two new programming languages, networked with professionals inside The Fool and outside, began investing personally, and I felt I had a lasting impact on my team and our product.”
– Desmond, Software Development intern

“My summer at The Fool was awesome. I learned more about investing during my two-month internship than in two years of studying on my own. The atmosphere is truly welcoming. Whether I was attending classes with the Analyst Development Program, doing research for a service, or just debating a particular company’s future with The Fool’s analysts, I always felt like part of the conversation. If you enjoy studying companies and talking stocks with other true investing nerds, you’ll love interning with The Fool.”
– Frank, Investing intern

“I never thought that working at an investment advisory can be so much fun! I’ll always remember The Fool for its great work atmosphere, wonderful people, lots of freedom, and lots of free food! One particular aspect that I loved about the place is Fool U classes. You can learn anything from How to Invest to How to Throw a Frisbee here! I think the people that work here are wonderful, creative, and really talented at what they do. Personally, working with the people in the Software Dev team was fun and enriching. I had a great summer!”
– Nilesh, Software Development intern